Language skills and metalinguistic awareness
Metalinguistic interactions in multilingual learning settings as a predictor of metalinguistic awareness and its relevance to the learning of German, foreign and heritage languages
Background and aims
The development and enhancement of metalinguistic awareness as the ability to reflect on language and its utilisation in order to use it purposefully and consciously is a critical task in language lessons. However, little is known about the development of metalinguistic awareness or the factors that foster it. On the one hand, some claim that this ability first correlates with primary language development and second with general cognitive development. On the other hand, multilingualism is assumed to play a role in the development of metalinguistic awareness. To date, however, there have been no empirical studies that broadly investigate these hypotheses. This study investigated the metalinguistic awareness of mono- and multilingual primary school children on the basis of their linguistic and cognitive development. The study aimed, firstly, to capture how children processed linguistic structures and, secondly, to investigate correlations between the language skills of mono- and multilingual children and their metalinguistic awareness.
The project addressed the following three questions:
- How can metalinguistic awareness be assessed and described on the basis of metalinguistic expressions?
- Is there a connection between skills in the L1/L2 and metalinguistic awareness?
- How do multilingual primary school children use their L1 skills to deal with metalinguistic tasks?
Methods
Demographic data concerning gender, age, birthplace (of child and parents) and language practices with family and friends were collected for a sample of 400 monolingual and multilingual primary school pupils. General cognitive abilities and language skills in German, as well as skills in Turkish and Russian for speakers of those heritage languages, were assessed. Metalinguistic expressions were then assessed as indicators of metalinguistic awareness. For this, a new procedure called M-SPRA was developed which uses six reflection prompts. The participants had to solve metalinguistic tasks, which prompted them to make language-related hypotheses and observations and to verbalise their language knowledge. Metalinguistic interactions were videotaped and analysed on the linguistic levels to which the participants refer as well as for depth of reflection.
Findings
A wide spectrum of metalinguistic expressions was elicited and qualitatively analysed to identify indicators of metalinguistic awareness. Depending the depth of reflection and elaboration of utterances, metalinguistic expressions can be understood along a hierarchy: lowest on the hierarchy are language-related statements, followed by explanations and, finally, by analyses. The statements, explanations and analyses made by each child constitute a global value indicating his or her level of metalinguistic awareness. These levels were controlled for general cognitive and language abilities. German-language ability, general cognitive abilities and metalinguistic awareness showed significant positive correlations.
No significant correlation was found between Russian and Turkish heritage language skills and metalinguistic awareness. This indicates that German, as the language of schooling, plays a more important role in the formation of metalinguistic awareness among primary school children than languages spoken only in the family or with peers.
When the metalingual awareness values of multilingual children were compared with those of monolingual German speakers, the multilingual participants were revealed to produce a larger amount of metalinguistic expressions. They also reflected on a higher metalinguistic level than their monolingual German classmates. It can therefore be assumed that children raised with more than one language are more capable of linguistic analyses than those who cannot draw on a second, comparative language.
What does this mean for educational practice?
Primary school children display a wide spectrum of metalinguistic abilities that may be useful both in and outside of school. Multilingualism can be used as a resource for language reflection and language comparisons. What is more, German, as majority language, has a greater effect on metalinguistic awareness than the children’s first languages (where applicable).
Other differences observed in this study lead us to believe that the pedagogical approach has a large influence on the development of metalinguistic awareness. In this regard, language lessons in primary school may have two functions: first, the development of metalinguistic awareness as an ability to make language and linguistic behaviour a subject of discussion and, second, the inclusion of existing multilingual resources in language reflection and language comparisons for the benefit of all children.
Project Publications
Wildemann, A., Bien-Miller, L. & Akbulut, M. (2020). Mehrsprachigkeit und Sprachbewusstheit – empirische Befunde und Unterrichtskonzepte. In: Gogolin, I., Hansen, A., McMonagle, S. & Rauch. D. (Hrsg.): Handbuch Mehrsprachigkeit und Bildung, Springer VS, 119-123.
Wildemann, A., Krzyzek, S. Andronie, M. & Bien-Miller, L.(2020). Explizite Sprachenthematisierung im Deutschunterricht der Primarstufe – zum sprachreflexiven mehrsprachigen Handeln von Lehrkräften mit und ohne Fortbildung: In: Peyer, A. & Uhl, J. (Hrsg.): Sprachreflexion – Handlungsfelder und Erwerbskontexte. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang, S. 109-136.
Akbulut, M., Bien-Miller, L., & Wildemann, A. (2017). Mündliche Sprachkompetenzen in Schulstufe 3 - eine vergleichende Studie zu diskursiven und morphosyntaktischen Fähigkeiten von Lernenden des Deutschen als Erst- und Zweitsprache. In Zielsprache Deutsch, 44(2). Tübingen: Stauffenburg. S. 39-59.
Akbulut, M., Bien-Miller, L., & Wildemann, A. (2017). Mehrsprachigkeit als Ressource für Sprachbewusstheit. In Zeitschrift für Grundschulforschung: Bildung im Elementar- und Primarbereich, 10(2), S. 61-74.
Bien-Miller, L., Akbulut, M., Wildemann, A. & Reich, Hans H. (2017). Zusammenhänge zwischen mehrsprachigen Sprachkompetenzen und Sprachbewusstheit bei Grundschulkindern. In Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 20(2), S. 193-211.
Wildemann, A. & Bien-Miller, L. (2017). Wo sind die Wörter hin? Sprachvergleiche in mehrsprachigen Lerngruppen. In Grundschulunterricht Deutsch, 01/17, S. 8-12.
Wildemann, A., Akbulut, M., & Bien-Miller, L. (2016). Mehrsprachige Sprachbewusstheit zum Ende der Grundschulzeit - Vorstellung und Diskussion eines Elizitationsverfahrens. In Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht, 21(2), S. 1-15.
Akbulut, M., Bien, L., Reich, Hans H., & Wildemann, A. (2015). Metasprachliche Interaktionen in mehrsprachigen Lernsettings - ein Projekt zur Sprachbewusstheit im Grundschulalter. In ide: Sprachliche Bildung im Kontext von Mehrsprachigkeit. Die lebensweltliche Mehrsprachigkeit der SchülerInnen im Bildungskontext besser nutzen 4, S. 119-128.